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Show HN: Privacy friendly suite of PDF tools

pdfux.com

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Re: Show HN: Privacy friendly suite of PDF tools

#21

Post by drcpp »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #10

This is nice. Thanks for doing this. FYI, the other existing ones that I know and have used is https://www.sejda.com

Thank you. Sejda has a lot of features and seems to be a solid tool. The big difference between Sejda's online tool and pdfux is that with Sejda (and most online PDF tools), your file is transferred over the internet to Sejda's server where it is stored, processed and sent back to you. Then they promise to delete it. Personally I am not 100% comfortable using this kind of tools with files that I wouldn't want to share with anyone. (I also see that Sejda has a desktop version for offline use which seems to be their answer to the privacy concern.)

Re: Show HN: Privacy friendly suite of PDF tools

#23

Post by whenc »

You might find this interesting to add functionality to this website: it's a JavaScript version our commercial PDF tools, and can run entirely in the browser. It's AGPL, so you wouldn't need a commercial license for your use case, so long as you release your source, as you say you plan to in another comment:

https://www.npmjs.com/package/coherentpdf

Re: Show HN: Privacy friendly suite of PDF tools

#24

Post by drcpp »

forgotpwd16 wrote: post #19

Have you written this library or is an already existent one? Also can be used offline but maybe provide an easy way to download it so can run it locally or host it on own server? (Unless of course there's a plan to monetize this.)

It is a very small PDF library that I have written myself in C++. I am planning to release the source, but haven't decided on the license yet. It is very limited in features compared to the whole PDF specification but I am planning to keep adding to it.

Re: Show HN: Privacy friendly suite of PDF tools

#25

Post by drcpp »

bzmrgonz wrote: post #14
ibdf wrote: post #7

This is very cool. I had to build something similar but did it server side... client side seems like a much better option. My first thought was... I don't know of any client side pdf libraries that work in the browser... this seems like a good case for WebAssembly.

I looked under the hood and did see a wasm reference.

Yes, it is a C++ library I have created and compiled to WebAssembly.

Re: Show HN: Privacy friendly suite of PDF tools

#26

Post by drcpp »

ale42 wrote: post #20

Very nice set of tools! I'd love a native version that doesn't require a browser, though ;)

Thank you! Could be an idea. The PDF logic itself is in a C++ library that can be compiled against different platforms. A cli for instance shouldn't be too difficult to create. If you are thinking about a native UI, I am not sure it adds so much value when there is already the browser version.

Re: Show HN: Privacy friendly suite of PDF tools

#27

Post by gualang »

Good tool to have for users of PDF documents.I missed seeing the WASM locally manipulated notifier perhaps it can be more clearly identified. Certainly can see usage and it will be good to have digital signing capabilities and adding any "version" edited signed attribution of the generated pdf file(author).

Perhaps reword as Secure,private, fast and free local in browser PDF tools?

Congratulations.

Look forward to learn from the source code.

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